[1] The parish of Christ Church, Surrey was created by Act of Parliament in 1682 in the manor of Paris Garden as a result of the gift under the direction of the executors of John Marshall, a member of a Southwark family of “whitebakers”.

His will, of 1627, provided from 1637 and directed that a new church should be built and a Rector be appointed and paid for in that Manor, the most westerly part of St Saviour's parish.

The John Marshall Trustees are independent of the parochial charities and the wealth they have accumulated for its objects are distributed over most of the counties of Kent, Surrey (including those parts now in Greater London) and Lincolnshire.

By an Act of Parliament dated 1738, the trustees were empowered to demolish the church and rebuild it in an improved enclosure.

By 1741 the new Christ Church had been completed in Italian Romanesque style with a clocktower rising in three stages from the ground, surmounted by an octagonal lantern and cupola.

The position in which it landed is marked with a stone cross, and is near to the drinking fountain which remains in place and is Grade II listed.

Its parish coincided with the manor of Paris Garden, mentioned by Shakespeare in his play Henry VIII as being, at that time, a disreputable place.